#cath x fir

[ivettel]

@pscentral EVENT 10: BEST OF 2022 ⟶ Sebastian Vettel x 2022 Highlights

for caro @vetterrari, fir @josefnewgayden, fio @maranello, barbi @brawn-gp, charlie @sebrrari, c @kritischetheologie, eve @ho-ho-honeyryder, ana @vettelwdc2023, nikki @cuetheviolins, athy @antimonyandthyme, cath @p1tstop, noora @toyotagazoo, jay @s-vettel, and everybody else who has supported my creative journey this year! you pushed me to be bolder, to take risks, and grow as an editor. much love and appreciation for you all 🖤

[insp.]

[fe-aesthetics]

Well, let's go then, shall we?

Let's go!

Fir and Cath, Becoming The Best

*requested by @safy*

[shslmahoushoujo]

I spend quite a bit of time wondering how a 2  route Fire Emblem 6 remake would work. Because I know I’d make a split from the start for sure rather than the almost negligible route split from Sacred Stones. It might need some rewriting, but I could see it working. And seeing how this became just an overly long train of thought kind of thing, I’m adding a read more so people can avoid walls of text if they’d so prefer.

Roy route working pretty much as it is, but not getting the cavalier trio from chapter 7 and Astolfo+the Ositia group as him (he’s already overloaded with characters at that point as it is). Rather, have them as part of Lilina’s group. Start her story with Barth, Wendy, and Ogier in Pherae already with her helping out with driving some bandits who made it into the castle while Roy deals with the ones outside, have her meet up with the cavalier trio from Ilia on the way back to Ositia (perfect chance for a few FE7 homages going across Santaruz, maybe taking a ship at Badon after learning of Erik’s betrayal and Hector’s death (Astolfo joining there), and going into the fortress between Thria and Ostia from Kinship’s Bond before reaching Ostia. Also, move Sue there and have her as a Lilina recruitable unit to prevent more Roy bloat, I’d rewrite it a bit so Wagner sent her to be locked up elsewhere just in case so she couldn’t be accidentally found confirm Orun’s death. That’s still 18 units in the Roy route vs. 9 units in Lilina’s. 10 if she got a merchant for herself, say, Anna, who I’ll be counting in this speculation since both sides should have a Merchant anyway.

(EDIT: Come to think of it, this leaves Lilina without healers. So, the way I’d fix this, I’d make Clarine be a possible unit for both sides. In Roy’s route, same scenario as the original chapter 4. In Lilina’s route, they land on Ryerde from Badon or something like that, and a runaway Clarine joins them being chased by Erik’s people. Klein becomes available for both sides. Adjusting numbers for it in the later parts now too.)

So then, going on ahead... I’d still use chapters 7 and 8 from the original for Lilina’s route, but slightly redone. The map from chapter 7 would become an escape map, with Lilina trying to escape the rebellion and that turning out to be a trap (plus Noah meeting Fir at the arena and her going back to the isles as per usual before shit hits the fan), and 8 would be the same for Roy and Lilina’s routes except the other’s army would be green units. Either way, the way it plays out would be different: Lilina’s route would be about breaking out and joining her army up to take down Legance (with Roy’s army showing up as reinforcements later on), whereas Roy would be the same usual charge from the original map. Chapter 8x plays out the same, same with chapter 9 for the most part (except only in Lilina’s route could recruit Fir and Sin). But then, instead of an arbitrary “visit village x or y from the route split”, Roy and Lilina would have clearer route splits. (Also, army numbers at this point for Roy and Lilina: Roy has still 18, Lilina 13).

And now we get to the Western Isles. Roy gets 10A and 11A, Lilina gets 10B and 11B. Roy gets Larum and Echidna. Lilina gets Elfin, Bartre, and Gonzales. Both sides can get Geese, Klein, and Thea. Chapter 12 is the same for both, except it’s the second talk with Cath for Lilina instead of her being outright recruitable at this point. Maybe adjust the recruitment options for Raigh so he can join either route. 12x through 16x the same, only making Garret a Lilina route exclusive unit. All of the other units joining you regardless, boosting up numbers on both sides. Army numbers at this point, Roy 33, Lilina 31. Unique units per route, Roy 20, Lilina 16. Compare to the bloat of 49 units for a single side in the game at this point!

And then the second route split. If you’ve noticed which units I’ve given each side, I think that should give you the idea of how this is gonna go. Lilina gets Sacae, Roy gets Ilia. I’d take the chance to just make a decision that may not be likeable to some people, but I’d make Hector x Lyn and Eliwood x Ninian canon at this point, simply because of the storytelling potential. Lilina’s mother having told her about those distant plains? Roy’s mother being an ice dragon and being all the more aware of that when he realizes how the cold of Ilia isn’t getting to him as much as his army? Good stuff. Either way, Roy gets Juno, Lilina gets Dayan, Niime and Yodel join either way on both sides, and we get to the fight with Zephiel.

The way I’d handle the endgame is very much the Resident Evil 2 A/B route way. After beating one route first, you have to beat the other. Roy and the Sword of Seals are kinda needed for the ending, so this is where I say: Time to have fun with the army bloat! Both armies join sides, and The Ghost of Bern becomes picking the best you have from both sides (the unique units from the prior run keeping their stats from that run, the common units between both runs having only the stats from the current run). And I’d increase the number of people to bring into The Ghost of Bern just to make it a bigger deal.

And then there’s other small changes I’d make like making Lilina into an actual magic lord with unique classes, and have Roy and Lilina auto class up after defeating Narcian in chapter 16 rather than the stupid, STUPID decision to have Roy class up so late in the game.

So that’s about that, it’s just me rambling on about something I hope we get next year for the 30th anniversary of the series. Won’t complain if we get an FE4 remake or a Tellius double pack though.

[siraranispleased]

Fire Emblem Elibe - Skills

Or: “How I Would’ve Handed Out Jugdral/Tellius/Modern Style Skills.”

There were enough Skills to go around that I could assign two characters to a skill for both the FE6 and FE7 parts of the game, including new characters. The only exceptions were Merlinus, Nils, Ninian, Lalum, and Elphin; as strict utility characters, they didn’t get Skills. Otherwise, it would’ve been Miracle or Bargain for all of them.

I’ll also do a refresher on what each of the skills were and who I would’ve assigned them to. Some of the assignments are very much themed, and some are explicitly for shoring up statistical weaknesses of the character in question.

Adept - Skill% to perform an immediate followup attack. FE6: Hugh, Niime. FE7: Wil, Dorcas.

Awareness - Negates the enemy’s combat related skills. FE6: Klein, Sue. FE7: Rath, Pent.

Blossom - +10% to all Growth Rates. FE6: Chad, Dorothy. FE7: Available through Afa’s Drops.

Cancel - Skill% to negate the enemy’s next attack. FE6: Melady, Allen. FE7: Bauker, Harken.

Charisma - Allies within 3 spaces gain +15% to Hit and +10% Evade. FE6: Roy, Echidna. FE7: Eliwood, Priscilla.

Counter- Skill% to instantly deal half the damage you just took to the enemy. FE6: Dieck, Wade. FE7: Isadora, Hawkeye.

Daunt - Enemies within 3 spaces lose -10% to Hit and -10% to Evade. FE6: Gonzales, Rutger. FE7: Raven, Vaida.

Discipline - Gain Weapon Ranks at twice the rate. FE6: Lance, Lugh. FE7: Kent, Erk.

Fortune - Enemies can’t land critical hits on this unit. FE6: Saul, Fae. FE7: Nino, Jan.

Gamble - Activated ability. -20% to Hit, +15% to Crit. FE6: Wolt, Geese. FE7: Rebecca, Geitz.

Guard - Activated ability, take damage for one adjacent ally. FE6: Zealot, Barth. FE7: Available through Bonus Scrolls.

Imbue - At the start of the player phase, restore Health equal to 25% Might. FE6: Fir, Dayan. FE7: Guy, Karla.

Initiative - +20% to Hit and +10% Evade on attacks personally initiated. FE6: Shin, Lilina. FE7: Hector, Canas.

Miracle - Luck% to survive fatal damage with 1 HP. FE6: Cecilia, Ellen. FE7: Serra, Ursula.

Nullify - This unit doesn’t take Effective Damage. FE6: Bors, Gale. FE7: Wallace, Lowen.

Paragon - Doubled experience gain. FE6: Clarine. Noah. FE7: Eleanora, Louise.

Pass - Move through enemy units. FE6: Cath, Shanna. FE7: Matthew, Legault.

Provoke - Enemies more likely to attack this unit. FE6: Bartre, Percival. FE7: Sain, Bartre (again).

Reflex - +20% to Hit and +10% Evade on attacks during the enemy phase. FE6: Guinevere, Raigh. FE7: Lyn, Florina.

Renewal - At the start of the player phase, restore 30% Max Health. FE6: Yodel, Treck. FE7: Renault, Athos.

Resolve - When at 30% HP or less, +50% Skill and Speed. FE6: Wendy, Douglas. FE7: Oswin, Heath.

Saviour - Negates the stat penalty while Rescuing. FE6: Marcus, Juno. FE7: Marcus (again), Fiora.

Stillness - Enemies won’t target this unit unless they’re the only valid target. FE6: Sophia, Igrene. FE7: Lucius, Jaffar.

Vantage - Take the first attack during the enemy phase while at 50% Health or less. FE6: Ashtol, Karel. FE7: Karel (again), Leila.

Weapon Saver - (Luck x 2)% to not use up Weapon Quality on hit. FE6: Oujay, Thea. FE7: Available through Bonus Scrolls.

Wrath - +25% to Critical Hits when at 50% Health or less. FE6: Garret, Zeiss. FE7: Dart, Farina.

Would I have done Personal Skills? Maybe...maybe not. Did you see how large the FE6 cast list is? I’d have to borrow so much from Fates!

[ad-ciu]

Of Gods and Dice: Nuada

So, continuing onward with looking at the depiction of ‘Celtic’ Gods within Dungeons and Dragons, Fifth Edition. As always, this is not intended to be a disparaging commentary against the developers of the game, but instead an examination of the presentation to see how the authors options were limited by the resources available to them.

Today we are going to be looking at Nuada, who is described as a God of War and Warriors. He is True Neutral, has the War Domain, and his Holy Symbol is a Silver Hand on a Black Background.

Okay, so right off the bat, Nuada’s not a War God. I have seen this notion repeated a few times, I think Marvel presents him as a God of Warriors as well, and neither of these are true. Nuada is actually a pretty terrible warrior drawing on the mythic evidence for his capacity. We see Nuada fight twice, in the First and Second Battles of Maige Tuired seen in  Lebor Gabála Érenn and in Cath Maige Tuired respectively. In the first battle, Nuada is maimed by the Fir Bolg champion Sreng of the Mighty Blows, having his hand or arm cut off. (The Old Irish term is Lám for both Hand and Arm) This maiming causes Nuada to have to step down from his Kingship due to rules about being unblemished, which eventually leads to the Second battle. Here, Nuada (who has had his hand regrown after having a magically animated silver replacement) is killed by Balor of the Evil Eye. So, we see him fight twice, both times he gets either maimed or killed.

Now, you can have War or Warrior Gods who are shit at fighting. Hachiman from Japan is a pacifist, and is the patron of Warriors out of some sort of pity for them. (He is frequently misunderstood to be a warrior though, whole problem with Western depiction of Japanese Deities. Don’t get me started on Raijin or Susano-O) Ares is also pretty bad at actually fighting people, he gets put in a jar and can’t escape one time. Another time Heracles (still a mortal at that point) wipes the floor with him. But, Nuada is entirely unrelated to War or Warriors past his function of the king of the Pantheon during the colonization of Ireland. Nuada is better depicted as King-God or if you have to use the ‘Of X’ system, “God of Kings,” rather than being a War or Warrior Deity.

Since Nuada isn’t a War God at all, that War Domain is totally out of place. Unfortunately, there is no other Domain that works very well for Nuada due to the aforementioned lack of a ‘Justice’ or ‘Law’ Domain. Literally nothing else from the Player’s Handbook fits him however. I normally limit my suggestions of Domains to the Player’s Handbook, but because all of them so poorly represent Nuada, I am going to suggest the Protection Domain from Unearthed Arcana: Cleric: Divine Domains.

Next, Alignment. What is going on here. True Neutral? Nuada is Lawful fundamentally due to his function as King. He also is exceptionally selfless, giving up his kingship without hesitation when maimed, and then passing his kingship over to Lugh when he believes Lugh would be a better leader in an upcoming battle. I would suggest Good to round him out. I can see an argument for Evil however since the Tuatha are absolutely all entirely complicit in the invasion, and colonization of Ireland including either the subjugation or extermination of the native population, the Fir Bolg. However, people tend to ignore this bit, I like it, feels like it adds more depth and actual serious focus on what they do. 

Anyways, Holy Symbol, a Silver Hand on a Black Field. Yup, sure. Nuada has the Epithet Airgetlám meaning ‘Silver Hand/Arm’ based on the replacement hand Dian Cecht and Crende the Craftsman make for him. (I would like to add a further comment that everyone always forgets about Crende and makes the entire hand out to be Dian Cecht’s thing which I always feel super badly about Crende for since he’s getting written out. It’s like how I feel badly for Conquest getting written out in Popular Culture.)

Anyways, I expect the oddity with Nuada here comes from another source that claims him to be a War or Warrior God. It’s something I have heard repreated several times, but never managed to track down the origin of. I expect it’s one of the 18th century things when they were constantly bungling everything and drawing comparisons with the Æsir all the time. I expect this is why he is made True Neutral, his actual character wasn’t something the authors had access to, instead probably just seeing that he is a ‘War God’ somewhere.

[rebekkareed]

The A-Z Book Tag

A. Author you’ve read the most books from

Anne-Cath Vestly

I have read a total of 34 books by her. Since I read them all around the age of 5-6 I don’t remember all that much, but I think my favourite was the “Mormor og de åtte ungene”-series. Here is a list of all the books I have read by her (I am not 100% sure whether I read absolutely all of these, but these are the ones by her I own at least):

-Åtte små, to store og en lastebil

-Mormor og de åtte ungene i skogen

-Marte og Mormor og Mormor og Morten

-En liten takk fra Anton

-Mormors promenade

-Mormor og de åtte ungene på sykkeltur i Danmark

-Morten og Mormor og Stormvind

-Lillebror og Knerten

-Trofaste Knerten

-Knerten gifter seg

-Knerten flytter ut

-Knerten og forundringspakken

-Knerten på sykkeltur

-Aurora i blokk Z

-Aurora og Pappa

-Aurora og den vesle blå bilen

-Aurora og Sokrates

-Aurora i Holland

-Aurora på Hurtigruten

-Aurora fra Fabelvik

-Guro

-Guro og nøkkerosene

-Guro alene hjemme

-Guro og fiolinen

-Guro og Lille-Bjørn

-Guro på Tirilltoppen

-Guro of Frydefoniorkesteret

-Ole Alexander Filibom-bom-bom

-Ole Alexander på farten

-Ole Alexander får skjorte

-Ole Alexander og bestemor til værs

-Ole Alexander på flyttefot

-Ole Alexander og julepresangene

-Småtassene og andre folk på Tirilltoppen

B. Best sequel ever

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling

An obvious choice since this is my favourite book of all time, and also a sequel.

C. Currently reading

“Where Things Come Back” by John Corey Whaley

I initially picked up this book due to the fact that it has won the Printz awards, and I want to read all Printz winners and honor books. At this point I am only a couple chapters in, but I am very intrigued by the two seemingly separate narratives.

D. Drink of choice 

Coffee

Nothing beats a warm cup of black coffe and a good book.

E. E-reader or physical book 

Easiest question so far: Physical book!!

To me a crucial part of the reading experience is the wight and shape of the book in your hands, the smell of them and the physical flipping of pages. I also want books that can stand on my bookshelf and look pretty. I only read e-books if that is the only available option.

F. Fictional character you probably would have been friends with in high school.

Cath from “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell

We are both introverts, we both love reading and obsessing over fictional characters and we have a lot of the same thoughts and insecurities. Overall we would have had a lot to talk about, and would easily understand the others boundries.

G. Glad you gave this book a chance

“A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman

My parents bought this as an audiobook to listen to while we were going on a road trip thorugh northern Spain. The intended to listen to this while me and my sister listened to music on our phones. As it turned out both me and my sister decided to give this book a shot after hearing the first chapter. We both completely fell in love with it and consider it to be one of our favourite books of all time. Fredrik Backman has also become one of my top 5 favourite authors and my goal is to read everything he ever publishes.

H. Hidden gem

“And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” by Fredrik Backman

Like I said; one of my favourite authors. This question was really difficult to answer since most of the books I read are pretty well known, and the lesser known books I have read I would not exactly call “gems”. This is at least a book (or novella) that I have not heard all that many people speak about. They definitly should though! This is a beautiful story about an old man struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. It is one of my favourite books (novellas) of 2017 and one of the most well written, honest and beautiful things I have ever read.

I. Important moment in your reading life

Discovering Booktube

I loved reading long before i discovered Booktube, but it has given my reading life a whole new dimention and made me even more exited about books. With Booktube I feel like I am a part of a community, and books are very present in my life even when I am not reading. It has also opened my eyes to a lot of authors and genres I otherwise may never have checked out.

J. Just finished 

“Why We Broke Up” by Daniel Handler

I finished this book a couple of days ago. This was another book i picked up due to the fact that it’s a Printz honor book. I gave it a 3/5 stars. It was entertaining enough, but it did not have a particularly big inpact on me.

K. Kind of book you won’t read

I try to be as openminded as possible and explore all sorts of genres , so I never completly exlude the possibilty that I will pick up certain types of books. I do have to say however that I usually avoid very spiritual books since I have a hard time identifying with them.

L. Longest book you’ve read

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by J.K. Rowling

My edition of the book was 874 pages long.

M. Major book hangover because of…

“Lord of Shadows” by Cassandra Clare

I absolutely adored this book and was (and still am) completly obsessed with it. I had a really hard time getting in to other books after finishing this beacuse I only really wanted to read the sequel (wich comes out in 2019...). That ending did not exactly help the matter either...

N. Number of bookshelves you own

Actually a bit difficult to answer since my family is moving into a new house and don’t know how many bookshelves I will have in my new room (I won’t keep all those I have, and I will get some new ones). 

In my old room I have two full bookshelves and two long planks with room for about 110 books.

O. One book you’ve read multiple times

“The Magician’s Nephew” by C.S. Lewis

I have read this book three times, wich is not all that many, but since I am not much of a rereader it is the only book I have read more than twice (excluding all the picture books I read as a child). Weirdly enough I have not even read any of the Harry Potter books more than twice (even though I feel like I have read them at least 10 times), since I read them with my family both times (meaning we only had time for a few chapters each week, and spent two years reading all the books both times). “The Magician’s Nephew” I first read with my dad when I was 6 or 7, then by myself when I was around 10, and lastly with my dad and sister when I was 16.

P. Preferred place to read

My absolute favourite place to read is in a leaning chair under the christmas tree; smelling the fir and letting the pages be lit up by the christmas lights.

Q. Quote that inspires you

“She knew that when she got old it would be more fun to look back on a life of romance and adventure than a life of quiet habits. But looking back was easy. It was the doing that was painful. There were plenty of things she would like to look back on but wasn’t willing to risk …”

From “Sisterhood Everlasting” by Ann Brashares.

R. Reading regrets

I guess my biggest regret is not writing down more short reviews or just thoughts I’ve had after finishing books. I have been pretty good at doing this for a few short periods, but I always get tired of doing it after a while. I guess I just have to find the right way to do it (a way that does not make it seem like a burden, but rather a pleasure).

S. Series you’ve started and need to finish

The “The 5th Wave”-series by Rick Yancey

This is not a favourite series of mine or anything (I do have sort of mixed feelings towards it), but I have read 2/3 books, and I own the last one, and I have the second one fresh in memory, so I really want to finish of this series as soon as possible.

T. Three of your all time favorite books

(I am exluding series to make this slightly easier)

“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë

One of my two favourite classics and stand-alone novels.

“Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell

My other favourite classic and stand-alone novel, written by my favourite author (in addition to J.K. Rowling of course).

“My Granmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman

My favourite book by Fredrik Backman, which (as mentioned severeal times already) is one of my absolute favourite authors.

U. Unapologetic fangirl

Potterhead for life!

V. Very excited for this release

“Turtles All the Way Down” by John Green

This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2017. John Green is another one of my favourite authors, and I have loved every book I have read by him (which is every book he has published). This book also seem to deal with some themes that I can relate to (to some extent at least).

W. Worst bookish habit

The habit of choosing books over people I guess...

X. X marks the spot: Pick the 27th book from the top left shelf

Since I am currently at a boarding school of sorts I don’t have my bookshelves available. I do however have a tiny bookshelf with 9 books, so I guess I’ll use that:

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë

I actually just finished reading this less than a week ago. This is one of my new all-time-favourites, and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it.

Y. Your latest purchase

I bought four books at the same time:

“The Last Star” by Rick Yancey

“The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater

“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

Z. Z snatcher–book that kept you up way too late

The “Pretty Little Liars”-series by Sara Shepard

I started reading this series when I was 12 years old and for six years it kept compromising my sleep.